Ok folks, the wife and I bought a new home in upstate NY and the move takes place Friday. The new connection will not be available until Monday so I hope to get everything back online by Tuesday the 15th.

We have quite a bit to do, so bear with me if it takes a little while. The site will down sometime Friday.

Sorry, it has been a while since I have written, but work has kept me quite busy. I hope to be able to get some more recipes here!

Since the grilling season is upon us, I have been cooking a lot of steak. Not only is it quick in these busy times, but of course, delicious! Lately I have been working on pan sauces and quick marinades. I have begun to find that most marinating going on out there is too much. I see no need to marinate most anything over night in the fridge. Don’t get me wrong, I am just as guilty as the rest of you as I have done the same thing for years, but you know what? I have found that most of the time you can get the same results by marinating quickly at room temperature.

Think about it, most marinades have some sort of acidic component, such as lemon, or vinegar, and then an oil like olive oil or canola and then a few spices. What happens when you put oil into the the fridge? It coagulates and basically seizes. In my mind, once this happens, the marinating is over and all that is left is pickling of the meat.

The acidity and salt added to marinades kills most of your flagrant bacteria that will quickly spoil meat so why put it back in the fridge? – (More…)

Ahh yes, St. Pattys day is just around the corner, and we are already planning our party. Since the holiday is landing on a Monday this year, we are throwing the party on Sunday the 16th as probably most of you are. After our big hit party last year, we can’t wait until this St. Pattys day.

We will be making pretty much the same menu this year, but it will have one important difference. We are brining the brisket from scratch to make a truly home made dish. Our test batch last month came out wonderful so today we picked up about twenty pounds of beef brisket and got our corned beef brine going. For those of you who have never done it, you should know it requires eight days of brining so you better hurry!

Here is the recipe we use for turning 4-6 pounds of beef brisket into corned beef:

Stir all the ingredients together in a large wide pot and make sure the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the meat and weigh down with a heavy plate and then cover. Refrigerate for 4 days, stir the brine and turn the meat, and refrigerate for another 4 days.

Pork loin can be one of those dishes that will test your patience. If you over cook it, be prepared for a dry experience; if you don’t spice it up right, a bland one. I have always assumed this is why that particular cut of meat is cheaper than most of the other pork cuts. I am of course referring to the center cut loin, not the tenderloin.

This recipe has gotten me through many a dinner with wows and exclamations on the flavor and juiciness.

Take the garlic, rosemary, and thyme and if you have a small food processor, process until well combined. Add olive oil slowly until it forms a liquidy paste. About 1/4 cup.

Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the pork loin.

Heat a dutch oven or any other heavy pot (that has a lid and can be used in the oven) on your stove to medium high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil starts smoking, add the loin, fat side down to the pan and sear – (More…)

Years ago, beef brisket was considered one of the least desirable cuts of meat. Cooked like other meats, it will come out tough and stringy. With no surprise, it was usually purchased by those with less money. Over the years recipes came about that made brisket one of the most sought after dishes in the Americas.

There are many ways to cook brisket, but generally all of the techniques have one common thing: low and slow cooking. By cooking (or smoking) the meat slowly, the tough connective tissue begins to break down leaving the meat soft and letting the flavor out.

One of my favorite ways to cook brisket is by braising it. This basically means cooking it slowly with liquid. Although this may remind you of a pot roast, it is really a bit different. Here is a recipe of mine that is very simple but has wowed more than a few people at my table.

We have been making a lot of Focaccia bread lately. When we make spaghetti, we make Focaccia, when we just want a warm snack, we make Focaccia. If I am bored and want to make a bread, I make Focaccia. It is really one of the more flavorful types of bread out there and fortunately it is easy to make!

You can use Focaccia bread for many occasions, and lately I have been using it when I would normally make garlic bread. Its rich flavor and wonderful toppings are just what the doctor ordered some days.

In a mixer you want to add a cup of warm water, around 95 – 100 degrees. Add the honey and the yeast and then stir together. Let the yeast proof while you get the other ingredients together (about 10 minutes).

Using dough hooks on your mixer, add the flour until mixed with the water. Add the salt, and the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Mix until a ball forms. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 5 – 10 minutes. Shape into a – (More…)

Is there really anything better on a bitter cold night than enjoying a tender pot roast? This is another dish that every person in a family cooks a little bit different. There is no perfect pot roast, just like there is no perfect pie. There are just too many ways you can prepare it.

The way I prefer to make pot roast is the low and slow method. It is no secret that cooking meat slowly brings out tenderness in the most stubborn of meats. This is one reason why pot roast is popular because you can use a less expensive cut of meat, and yet enjoy a delicious dish.

I normally do not include side dishes in my main course recipes, however, the texmati rice recipe I am about to show you, really will not work without some parts of the pot roast.

About two to three times a month lately, we have been eating meatloaf at our house. It is pretty much a staple in many home kitchens in the United States. My favorite part of the entire meatloaf genre is that wonderfully, there is no one recipe. Just like there is no one mixture of tea leaves better than another, meatloaf is as versatile as you need it to be.

With all that being said, there are some techniques that can really help make the dish regardless of what ingredients you use and let me tell you, there is list as long as the largest cookbook of ingredients you can use in a meatloaf. It used to be when I was a kid, that meatloaf was what you made with all the leftovers from the week. However, over the years it seems to now be mostly made with fresh ingredients. I think this has gone a long way to ending the “meatloaf that sits in your stomach like a rock” syndrome.

When I make it, I usually find that I make way too much and end up giving a few plates away to neighbors and friends. Many of these people are either single, or retired (no, I do not live in Florida 🙂 ) so they really appreciate a home cooked meal. One comment that I keep getting is on how much they love the – (More…)

If you read through this site for a while, you will quickly learn that lamb is one of my favorite foods. Probably the best (and most expensive) cut is the rack of lamb. The word tender is just not descriptive enough when it comes to this dish. Rack of lamb is very flavorful and is eaten all over the world.

Even if you generally do not eat your red meat rare/medium rare, you should think twice about it with this dish. A well done lamb chop is nothing much to talk about. At the most, I would stand for medium, and even then I would be a bit disappointed.

This recipe is not all that uncommon, I just added horseradish and a bit of a different technique. We enjoy this meal every so often whenever there is a good sale on racks of lamb. It can be a pricey cut, so keep your eyes peeled for sales on it.

I have finally gone and put it all together into a book! I took most of the recipes I have posted up until about November of 2007 and put them in print. My original inspiration was to give the book out as Christmas gifts for those in my family who also enjoy cooking. I received such positive feedback from it, that I decided I might as well put it up on the site for anyone to get if they wish. You have to forgive me for waiting until after Christmas to post this, but most of the gifts were surprises, so I didn’t want to give it away.

Some of the recipes have been updated and most of them contain stories on how the recipes came to be, or what inspired me to create them, or even funny events surrounding them.

The book took me quite some time to put it all together as I did it myself. I had no idea of the worth of an editor and publisher until I did this. I see now why people have them. It is quite a bit of work doing all of the arranging and proofreading; not to mention getting the layout and artwork right. I have found a couple mistakes but nothing too major (I have seen worse in professional cookbooks).